Educational Excellence Since 1912
Hamden Hall Country Day School
Educating students in PreSchool through Grade 12

Grade 1 Students Get Crafty to Celebrate Tu B’Shevat

Sunset on January 16 to January 17 marked the Jewish holiday, Tu B’Shevat or the New Year of Trees. The one-day festival lends itself to activities and projects that celebrate trees and nature, which Grade 1 teacher Beth Messina 1996 integrated into her classroom lesson.
 
Students gathered together to watch a quick video about the holiday and its traditions. The day is generally celebrated by planting trees and enjoying a seder or feast with different types of fruits and nuts such as dates, apricots, figs, almonds, along with grape juice or wine.
 
Following the video, the class was asked the importance of trees. One student commented that “trees make the world beautiful” while another student chimed in saying “trees give us shade.” Mrs. Messina further discussed how trees give us oxygen, food, paper, and wood. While a tree could not be planted, she instructed the students to draw their own tree on a piece of paper.
 
Using their body parts as inspiration, students drew their hand to represent the tree trunk while the fingers represented the branches. Dipping their fingers into an array of paint colors, dots were speckled around the tree drawing to represent the leaves with the descriptive words of what trees provide written in the branches.
 
“It was a fun, but informative activity for the students to learn more about a smaller-known holiday,” noted Mrs. Messina. It serves as a reminder that nature is all around us and provides us with so many amazing things.”
 
All the student pictures are on display around the classroom.
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